Kōka was born in Tokyo. He is one of the artists who made both shin hanga and Sosaku hanga, but he was also a painter of mainly kachō-ga (bird and flower paintings). Studied with Ogata Gekkō and graduated in 1907 from the Nihonga department of the Tokyo school of Fine arts. Exhibited with first Bunten in 1907. Also exhibited with Inten and Ugōkai. Member of Saikō Nihon Bijutsuin from 1916. After seeing one of his actor paintings, Watanabe Shōzaburō asked Toyonari to design a woodblock print based on his work, which resulted in a series of 12 actor prints.